I was just over at Breda's blog and saw that she wrote about those BS posters with all those feelgood-isms (as she called them). I agree, that stuff is mostly balderdash.

She suggested writing out own manifestos. I thought about that, wondered what was mine and realized I was already living by mine. Then I wrote it out for the world to see. Got it all done in about less than a NY minute. Here it is:

My manifesto:

We all die, it is a question of how and when, mostly when. I am not too worried about it at this stage of my life, I have done onto others mostly as I would have had them do onto me, that was conditionally - I acted this way or that way dependent on how they acted toward me after I first showed respect. That is how I would want someone to treat me. So now, I plan to have as good of a good time as I can have, and to share my good times with others who can appreciate it, in what time I have remaining. I cannot see anything better than that except maybe for how I spend the end moment. Who knows, today or tomorrow I may die at the hands of some bastards or worse. If it's the bastards who get me, I plan to take one, or two of them, along with me - if it's worse well what can I do except to go and hopefully do it bravely, always sure I have left a little of myself behind for others to carry on as best they can from what I have helped teach them. That just about has it down perfectly for me.

Well, my son has graduated from college. He decided to opt out of graduation ceremonies, which I think was a thing he may later wish he had not done but it was his decision aand we are having our own graduation ceremonies tomorrow anyhow. He did well, in college, he wound up with a 3.27 GPA which certainly beat my undergraduate 3.23 GPA. Nice to see he is smarter than the old man (who would be me).

Tomorrow, we are having a graduation party for him. I think my wife arranged for about 35 folks to show up, including us. I hope the rains hold off because I think 35 people in our small house would turn it into a loonier madhouse than usual, by far. Whatever, we will have a good time especially since it is being catered. The wife handled that and also picked up all of the soft drinks.

Lest you think I had nothing to do with it, I got to clean the basement today, including the toilet down there. Oh joy! I also vacuumed the basement and got outside spruced up and ready. In addition I have the extra folding chairs and folding tables ready to be set up. I'll hold off on that until I find out tomorrow if it looks like rain or not.

Now, don't go thinking, wow this guy is sure a wussy - letting his wife set up the catering and buy soft drinks, then doing cleaning chores. I also went out today and did the manly thing, I picked up some libations - some excellent and some the choice of my son. He chose Bud Light, wanted a keg but settled for cans (you would think being college educated he would select better beer). I also picked up some Spaten Oktoberfest Bier and some Franziskaner Hefe Weisse Hell. (Yep, that is what they call it but it tastes like it was made in heaven.) So, in all, we have soft drinks, beer and some wine already on hand. I think I will keep the hard stuff out of sight and am sure we have enough spirits for all without it.

Good food (that we do not have to cook), good beer (at least some of it), and good friends all together, with my son the guest of honor (the college graduate yet still pretty conservative) - it sure promises to be a good time for all.

While doing some lawn work yesterday, or maybe the day before, I had at least two, maybe three, mosquitos zero in on me. I think one actually got first blood for the season. It seems that the age of the mosquito has dawned early this year, by about a month or so. The season probably should not really have started yet, but apparently no one let the pesky little blood suckers in on this and they buzzing about and are attacking with bloodlust and glee.

The only reason that I am posting about this is because, I was driven to write this post since, I just caught one of the little buggers as it flew between me and the front on my laptop's screen. I got him in midair and squashed the livings out of him - it made me feel darned good too. too bad I could not have shot him with the .45 but i guess that would have messed up the computer and the wall behind it. Oh well, crushing the little booger was pretty satisfactory.

I guess, tomorrow, I'll have to check my yard and make sure there are no pockets of standing water anywhere, like in unused flower pots or buckets that may be out and about. I imagine that with all the rain we had lately, along with the somewhat warmer than normal temps, it is going to be mosquito paradise around here really soon.

I may not be the brightest bulb to have ever been screwed into the socket but as far as my knowledge of the world goes I do shine at least a little bit. In fact, I am so bright, when it comes to world geography that I know that someone over at Fox new online is either a moron or just cannot find enough new worthy items to fill in the blanks. being that the world is a busy place, with lots of news, I have to imagine it is the former - someone there is a moron at least when it comes to geography. Why do I say this? well, I visited Foxnews.com today as usual and I went to their World news page. On that page they give a listing of news articles under headers by region, 3 of them today when I looked, Mideast, Europe and Asia. Then under those headers they show articles that should, one would expect, pertain to those regions. Now bear in mind, there were many articles listed on each header, but I wanted o specifically show why someone at Fox is not all that up on geography so I only kept the ones that were mistakenly put under a header:

Giant new telescope to be built in South Africa and AustraliaThat was all found at this link, although you must bear in mind, it may all have been changed by the time you visit the link as it is a news site and things change pretty rapidly in the news. It is amazing, to me, as what passes for a professional website today, especially one purporting to be the site of a major news organization. Don't get me wrong, I like FoxNews.com, it is my favorite online source for the news. I just wish they would start to hire some reporters, or website developers and editors with a little bit of education 4th or 5th grade smarts when it comes to things like geography.

Heck, both south Africa and Australia most certainly do not belong grouped under Asia, they are continents in and of themselves. Europe likewise. As for China falling under both Europe and the Mideast - which one does it fall under? Oh, wait a minute, that's right, - it is in Asia! So why put articles about those countries and or continents under the obviously wrong regional header? It does not matter if each article in some way shape or form addresses those other regions and or continents in addition to the one mentioned in the article's title; they should be listed under the regional header most applicable to the crux of the piece - that which is expressed in the title of each article.

It is simply amazing, to me, how ignorant the person must be who listed those articles under those headers. American education and excellence in the workplace most assuredly have seen their sunset.All the best, Glenn B

I like to go to estate sales, tag sales, an occasional garage/yard sale now and again, to estate auctions. I also lke to try to sell some of the treasure I buy at those places. Sometimes I have made good money, other times people have offered me an amount that I thought was a joke. I just turned them down and held onto the item to try again. Sometimes, after not selling it for too long a time, I had to realize it was not worth as much as wanted and I would settle for a much lower price. Once or twice I even realized I never should have bought the item in the first place because it was jsut out and out junk, so I threw it away.

I guess, with those interest it was pretty natural for me to wind up liking shows about antiques like Antiques Roadshow, about turning trash into treasure like American Pickers, and about people getting what they can with odd things they have like on Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn. They are fun to watch, at least for me.

I guess I would never have expected it but there has been an added benefit for me, other than entertainment, while watching these shows. By watching them, I have learned a lot about American society, especially about those in our society who believe they are entitled to what other people own. I got education mostly from the last two shows I mentioned - Pawn Stars and Hardcore Pawn. Maybe not so much by watching Pawn Stars and more by watching Hardcore Pawn but the truth is that if you watch them both you get to see vastly different societal groups and how each thinks what is fair and just.

For instance, you watch Pawn Stars, a guy brings in what he claims is Houdini's straight jacket. The guys in the shop ask the potential seller if it is okay to bring in an expert to verify that this is indeed Houdini's actual straight jacket. The seller agrees, the expert comes in and he indeed does verify with photographic evidence, that it was Houdini's straight jacket, one he actually used in his acts. The guy asks for a certain amount, and Rick - the shop's owner, haggles with him. The seller decides that Rick is not offering enough and then he leaves the shop with the now very prized straight jacket. This all takes place in an atmosphere of relative tranquility. This is the case with almost every sale or purchase offering that is seen on this show. The shop is located in Las Vegas, not the most conservative of locales but one in which people are known to be, in general, productive and who work for a living even if most of that work is dedicated to the gaming/gambling industry.

Then we move to the Detroit, MI area where the store shown in Hardcore pawn is located. They have a very different type of clientele than does the shop on Pawn Stars. If you doubt me just watch each of these two shows a few times. Many of the folks shown, who come into the pawn shop on Hardcore Pawn, get into arguments with the shop's staff. What do they argue about? Well it seems that when they come into the shop to sell or pawn something, many of them truly seem to believe that they are entitled to the shop owners money and that when they ask for a set price, in that shop, the money they are trying to get in the deal is actually owed to them no matter what is the value of the item they are tring to sell. If they don't get what they ask, most leave, but many - way too many - go berserk and demand that which, for some unfathomable reason, they believe is already theirs.

It, that sense of entitlement, makes me wonder why in Detroit and not in Las Vegas. Sure, some of the folks who go into the shop on Pawn Stars, the one in Las Vegas, expect to get more than they are offered and some become incredulous or even upset that they were not offered more but they often just decide not to sell and to try elsewhere. I do not recall seeing one who ever started to get violent while demanding that the shop give them exactly what they are asking. I have never seen one person in that shp act as if they are entitled to someone else's money. On the other hand, in the show Hardcore Pawn, we see many heated altercations between store employees and potential sellers - sellers who obviously believe they are actually entitled to get whatever price they ask for any junk they are trying to sell. We also see people, who have pawned items, disputing angrily how much they owe or do not owe while trying to get pawned items back or manage their accounts. Again - why in the Detroit area as opposed to Las Vegas.

I can only imagine that it has something to do with the deep seated leftism that has established itself in Detroit. Detroit has not had a conservative mayor in what seems like eons. It had been a manufacturing mecca but became a fortress of unionization and the jobs disappeared. It is one of the most rundown, if not the most rundown, city in the United States. It is a city full of decay and desolation from what I can see and of course, it has a huge welfare program! There is little, if anything, about the Detroit of the last couple to few decades that makes me think of productivity, of the work ethic, of the American dream. Instead, when I think of Detroit, I think of it as being a prime example of how policies on the left have failed us. I also think of it as a city full of leeches, those who think that everyone else owes them something. That was my picture of Detroit for many years before Hardcore Pawn was ever a sparkle in the show producer's eyes.

Now, if the folks shown on Hardcore Pawn truly are the customers of that particular pawn shop and if their actions as seen on the show are real and not staged, let me ask you this: What more do Americans need to open their eyes and realize that all this welfare and other entitlement crap has gone to far? We need to end it and end it now and get people working instead of sucking on the once huge but now almost dry government tit. It is about time people work hard for what they want instead of trying to take away from the rest of us what we have worked hard to earn.

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